How Time Flies

How time flies. The South Australian Matriculation first term ended just in the twinkling of an eye unconsciously. It is, however, worth reminiscing about what has happened to us over a period of four months. Short though it is, we have actually built up solid camaraderie and friendship. Hence, I am now going to outline a brief account for the four-month life here.

My unit consists of 7 members altogether : Tao, Zubin, Jarry, Caleb, Danny, Yong Fung and I.

Tao: Knows how to play the guitar, and this is, undoubtedly, the reason why quite a number of girls are so obssessed with him. Macho, every girl knows it. A big fan of Bruce Lee. The first person who discovered my dirty little secret. He, too, has a lot of dirty little secrets which only guys in our unit are allowed to know.

Zubin: The most accommodating guy in our unit. He has always been willing to sacrifice his time just to accompany his friend(s) to go here and there. Outgoing. Acts as a typical father for always calling us out for dinner. My mortal.

Jarry: Lame joke king. The most brilliant in the unit. Acts as our typical mother for always rousing us from sleep every morning. The last person who discovered my dirty little secret.

Caleb: Cannot survive without Dota. Has a proclivity for doing revision at the eleventh hour, yet his results are always better than anyone else. Stumbled across my dirty little secret without me realizing it.

Danny: Chatterbox. Knowledgeable. Adventurous. Shopaholic. Generous for he always lends me his notes.

Yong Fung: Always sleeps in his friend's unit.

Well, it was only after I had arrived here that I came to realize my severe nerdiness. However, I have learnt a lot things from they all. I know how to play basketball. I've been to a few events such as the Dance Arena and the All-American-Rejects concert.

Here are the 7 special people whom I would like to acknowledge their support and care.

Hanshen: Always shares his stuff with me. Gives advice. My faithful listener.

Jocinda: Funny stuff. Been to a few events with me. We practised together when the exams were approaching. My listener.

Beeling: Spent hours to talk and minutes to laugh. My listener.

Yuyu: Gave advice when I failed my Maths. Spent time ice skating.

Sharveen: Spent time doing revision together, it helped to bits. Told me about a change in me when I myself did not even realize it.

Wallace: A good friend of mine. Took meticulous care of people when his friends fell sick. Warm.

Talitha: Just came to realize that she has sacrificed a lot silently without wanting people's acknowledgement and that there was no her in the e-portfolio.

Faith

Perhaps I did not have enough faith in God. I went to church these past few weeks, and I learnt a lot there. Before I accepted Christ, I did not feel anything and have strength to face hardship. Now, I feel much better since I have started attending church. When I feel utterly stressed out or worn out, I will feel very peaceful and calm after singing praise and worship. According to Danny, my lovely housemate, it is because the Holy Spirit has taken away all of your stress so you'll feel better. Thanks him for enlightening me about that.

I am taught about forgiveness in church. Sometimes I would wonder if there would still be the force, lawyers and armies if there were to exist complete forgiveness. Guess not. When I was taught about forgiveness, I was so inspired and I'm learning to forgive people now. Glad that I do not make enemies and I never hate anyone. So I need not forgive anyone. XD Give me a standing ovation, will you? Well, it is, in fact, not easy to forgive someone - if it was, there would not be so many cases and wars that had induced so many deaths. So people, learn to forgive.

I had always thought that the world only revolved around my close friends and our own topics of conversation. Well, u can see me very talkactive and laugh a lot when it comes to certain topics of conversation I am interested in. However, I will remain absolute silent when it comes to general knowledge and lame jokes. I surrender! I am trying to accept, though. Perhaps God wants me to be exposed more as He seems implying that there are still many people having different characteristics and personalities that we must try to mingle around with.

Sometimes when you pray to God and tell Him how you want something to come true, it may not go as smoothly as you desired it to because it needs time and God knows what and when it is best for us. So we need to be patient and wait for Him to answer our prayers. The most important thing is that we always need to have full trust in Him and stay wherever we are. Do not compare with other people because He himself has His plans for us.

Sometimes I do not feel like talking - I do not know whether this is a "maturity syndrome" or whatever it is, but just do not feel like it. I want to be the real me again : a person who always laughs for hours as he used to, a person who talks a lot as he used to, a person who likes games as he used to. It is time for me to seek the REAL ME again after wandering for so long. It's for me to lean on Him again. Be done, Amen.

Realization

At first I held the opinion that being a scholar should be worthy of pride; it was after I had spent 4 months here in KL that I came to realize there actually is nothing to be proud of. I have been endeavouring to jettison my stress in studies but to no avail. Every sponsor, indubitably, has high expectations of the scholars sponsored, notably the academic results and the overall performances. Owing to that, I have learnt a lot of things here.

I start to realize that I need to be more gregarious as this is necessary when we go overseas. I used to stick with my close friends in the secondary school because my class was monumentally cliquey. We used to spend our time on the clubs we were responsible for without having it in mind to socialize with other people. It was until I came to KL that I have started to realize how bad my communication skills have become. I do not know how much time is needed for me to get used to it since my friends here are not as cliquey as my former class was, and it seems that there is no specific clique we can hold on to - or if there is, we usually do not share common interests.

I start to realize that it is not easy to force a sincere broad smile because I utterly do not think lame jokes are funny; some may find them hilarious, but I seriously do not see where the laughing points are. I can hardly see any laughing stock that is worth my effort laughing. I start to realize that bookworms can actually be very sociable as long as they know how to tell lame jokes so that they can be the centre of attention. I start to realize that lame jokes will be in place of hilarious jokes when the latter is scarce.

I start to realize that the world is not as perfect as I thought. Everyone has his own strengths and flaws. When we do group work such as assignments and presentations, productive work will be produced when we do them using our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. Cooperation is, undeniably, of the essence when it comes to group work.

I start to realize that there are different people with different personalities. I feel so proud to have friends who are accommodating and willing to accompany me all along my journey. I am also proud to have friends who are extremely straightforward so that I realize my mistakes. I am proud to have friends who are obliging at all times. I feel proud to have friends who are always willing to teach and guide me when it comes to the things I do not really get the hang of. I appreciate them so much.

I dislike people who ask you to stop when you tell them your problems, and ask you not to criticize people because you yourself are not capable. I dislike people who say 'Fine, everything will be okay. No worries' when you tell them your problems without showing empathy. I dislike people who always tease other people and when they are teased, they become so protective that they will scold you back. I dislike people who forget your existence when they have found a bunch of new friends unless you treat them to something. These are the flaws of human beings I have discovered thus far.

Many a time I cannot find time for myself to chat with my housemates and friends because of my homework. I am not the kind of person who is able to memorise things in no time as my housemates and friends are, so I need a lot of time to do my revision to get better results.

However, I cherish what God has planned for me because He alone knows what is best for us. I know that there are still a lot of challenges ahead of me, be relationship with people or academic performance, I will still put effort into solving different kind of hardships.